“Abstracted have been a band since 2013, and their long-gestating debut record, 2022’s Atma Conflux, was an effective and varied slab of djenty progressive death metal, marred by tepid production and less-than-stellar clean vocals. More than anything, though, it showed potential as a record brimming with ideas that was so close to being great. With Hiraeth, can the Brazilian group finally unify their influences into something more than the sum of their parts?” Add and Abstract.
The AMG Staff Lists are ready for review, examination, and ultimately, rejection.
![Between the Buried and Me – The Blue Nowhere [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/a0023762103_10.jpg.webp)
“With their move to Inside Out Music and the departure of longtime guitarist Dusty Waring, another shift seemed inevitable, with longtime fans like me wondering if the band could deliver another impressive offering. I’m happy to say The Blue Nowhere sticks the landing. It’s an impressive record that finds BTBAM confident, energized, and willing to explore new ideas while refining the familiar.” The grave digging was premature.
“The creation of an album is a long, arduous process—a truth UK prog trio IHLO knows well. After five years of painstaking work, the group has returned with their sophomore album, Legacy. Over the years, IHLO has shared glimpses of their meticulous creative process via Patreon, revealing the humorous temporary names they gave to demos—like “Szechuan Sauce” and “Banana Pants”—while showing just how demanding the journey has been. Unlike their debut, Union, where they admit they “stumbled into” its dark, brooding atmosphere, IHLO approached Legacy with clear intent, determined to bring the same melancholic, emotional core with them and challenging themselves to craft complex compositions that seamlessly blend their progressive metal, electronic, and pop influences.” Long time in the shop.
“It’s a bird! It’s a plane? No! It’s a Frogg! Hailing from the festering urban sprawl of New York City, the upstart amphibian clan skews modern in influence and modernER in attack. Pulling the rip to progressive twist of Between the Buried and Me with the focus of tight structures and virtuosic play, Eclipse as a debut full-length, spins scales and riffs in only the way that a driven tech death band can. In this day and age, of course, tech alone can’t make the only splash. But something’s in the water where Frogg dwells” Riffit.
“I don’t often reach for OSDM revival promos, a genre I feel has been discovered, explored, conquered, and overrun. Fate had other things in mind for me, it seems when I found Vile Rites’ proper debut Senescence. Drawn to its label of “progressive death metal,” imagine my surprise when I found a sea of neo-OSDM lurking beneath. The Santa Rosa trio dipped their toes in the scene with 2022’s EP The Ageless and spent their time touring that record to perfect their coming-out opus, Senescence. As a member of the AMG Inc. Hydro Homies™, I’m duty-bound to snag any aquatic cover.” Fishing for bodies.
There are some labels that you just know will deliver something interesting. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll like what you get but it will be different. I, Voidhanger is one such label. The Anchoret’s label, Willowtip is another. So, despite knowing nothing about progressive five-piece The Anchoret, or its debut, It All Began with Loneliness, I was ready for a journey.” Strange places, dark spaces.
““This reeks of your elitism.” The words that every self-important purveyor of opinions at AngryMetalGuy.com wants to hear. As a fan of all things progressive and experimental, Philadelphia’s Parius was recommended to me by our esteemed editorial staff. Their third record entitled The Signal Heard throughout Space tells the conceptual tale of a space traveler journeying to respond to a distress signal. Parius examined rock operas from Jesus Christ Superstar to Ziltoid the Omniscient in producing five albums’ worth of music, subsequently distilled into these 60 minutes.” A month at the opera.
“To my credit, I was prepared. For those who enter the prog trailer park via that sketchy patch of woods at the back called “djent,” the polyrhythm abusers can be easier to spot. Futuristic-looking album covers, scientific names, and vaguely mathematic monikers like Structures, Tesseract, Volumes, and Intervals greet the eyes – or Monuments, in this case.” Escape from 2003.
“I’m not sure how everyone got their start with metal, but there had to be a bit of a transition to the more extreme stuff, unless you eat nails for breakfast while listening to Cryptopsy’s None So Vile. Unlike you sausage or oatmeal or vegemite shippers who are descended from the yesteryears of heavy, thrash, or doom, I enjoy my eggs with my bacon: my origins of Christian metalcore a la Demon Hunter, Haste the Day, and Oh Sleeper stick with me. While metalcore has not been the kindest to me thus far in 2021, I’m always rooting for any that may wander across my lap like a feral kitten. Is Nothing Noble available for adoption?” Dismay Day.
